Coca-Cola Uses AI to Speed Up Marketing Decisions
Coca-Cola is using artificial intelligence and scenario modeling tools to evaluate marketing and commercial investments, cutting decision cycles from two weeks to one hour, according to remarks at Gartner's 2026 Finance Symposium in May.
The company built a proprietary platform called Fuel Light 360 to address a persistent problem: different teams interpreted the same data differently, creating bottlenecks that delayed responses to market shifts. Shelley Kench, Coca-Cola's global resource allocation lead, described the friction: "By the time the team would produce the answer, the market had moved."
From Debate to Decision
Before Fuel Light 360, marketing teams often spent weeks debating which channel to invest in-television, digital, or in-store promotions-without a shared framework for comparison. The platform lets teams model different investment scenarios in real time, shifting conversations away from competing data interpretations toward actual strategic choices.
When a competitor increased advertising pressure in the sugar-free soda category, Coca-Cola used the tool to evaluate response options during a single meeting instead of scheduling follow-up analysis sessions.
Noah Museles, a partner at Bain & Company who supported the transformation, said the shift was about redesigning the decision-making process itself. "We went from two weeks to one hour in terms of the decision cycle," he said.
Part of Broader Finance Strategy
The effort reflects CFO John Murphy's focus on tightening resource allocation across the business. At the Consumer Analyst Group of New York Conference in February, Murphy called resource allocation optimization the company's potential "secret sauce."
The consumer goods industry faces pressure from economic uncertainty, weakening demand, and fragmented media channels. A February report by Boston Consulting Group found that three-quarters of marketing leaders at consumer goods companies viewed omnichannel investment allocation as their biggest challenge, with 68% citing organizational silos and poor collaboration as significant barriers.
For marketers, the takeaway is practical: tools that reduce decision friction can accelerate strategy execution. Understanding how to work with AI Data Analysis platforms and AI for Marketing is becoming table stakes for evaluating investment trade-offs in real time.
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